Surfing competitions don’t do much for Huntington Beach residents

I am contacting the city on behalf of taxpayers/citizens who oppose the gross inconvenience on a huge scale of the current and other surfing events. The beachfront does not belong to the surf organizations, nor to the city alone. A few select entities reap financial and marketing benefits at the expense of the ordinary Huntington Beach taxpayers, who get nothing in return.

A few businesses may make money, but the thousands of H.B. citizens and taxpayers who do not have commercial interests at the beachfront get nothing at all — but the bills.

H.B. taxpayers/citizens are forced to relinquish the use of their beachfront to hordes of outsiders while paying the costs for infrastructure, lifeguards, etc. There’s no way they can use their beach or parking.

But the organizers make money and promote their products at taxpayer expense. Taxpayers are being abused by these practices.

I respectfully request a full account of the cost of these surfing events and how exactly H.B. citizens and taxpayers benefit.

Sy Goldman

Huntington Beach

Coast drama belongs in the classroom

Re. “Trustees argue during hearing over changing Coast Community College District’s election system,” (Aug. 3): Coast Community College District Trustee Jerry Patterson appears as a loose cannon and a grandstander. While drama is an art form to be studied and appreciated on stage and on screen, it has no place at district board meetings.

While attempting to put words in the mouths of fellow board members and failing to recognize the Latino heritage of Trustee Jim Moreno, it should come as little surprise that Patterson wishes to expand the board membership without important data from the 2020 Census that will provide critical information regarding the size and future subdivisions of the district.

We have too much impulsive leadership at the national level. Patterson should not contribute to such impulsiveness at the local level of policy-making.

Ben Miles

Huntington Beach

Church made the right move with bishop

I was gratified to hear that Bishop J. Jon Bruno was repudiated for trying to complete a backdoor sale of an iconic Newport Beach church landmark to developers. Isn’t anything sacred any more? Kudos to the hierarchy of the Episcopal Church for stepping in and preventing the sale so that the sanctity of the church can be preserved. It’s sad that the original St. James couldn’t have continued along a path that had been cherished for decades!

Pete Rabbitt

Newport Beach